Several Republican state lawmakers want to force the Ohio House to vote on a bill requiring voters in the swing state to show photo identification at the polls.

The bill was introduced almost a year ago and has yet to have a hearing. It would require Ohioans to show a driver’s license, state ID card or other form of photo ID in order to cast their ballots.

Supporters of the bill said Tuesday they are circulating a petition to pull the proposal from committee and bring it to a vote by the House. They said the ID requirements help safeguard Ohio’s vote, though fraud cases are rare.

Voter rights groups say supporters of the proposal are going after a problem that doesn’t exist.

The Ohio Ballot Board agreed Tuesday that the proposed "Freedom to Marry and Religious Freedom Amendment" contains a single constitutional amendment, clearing the way for the effort to move on to the signature gathering phases.

Opponents of an Ohio law that effectively bans storefront sweepstakes parlors says they have enough signatures to block the law from taking effect.

A spokesman for the Committee to Protect Ohio Jobs says the group plans to file more than 400,000 signatures Tuesday with the secretary of state in their effort to have voters repeal the measure next year.

Those signatures would still have to be verified. The group needs more than 231,000 valid signatures to place a referendum on the ballot.

The opponent group wants legislators to pass a new law that regulates the industry and shuts down what it calls rogue operators.

More than 620 Internet cafes operate in Ohio, representing competition to legalized casinos and charity games.

Elections officials say the petition to move Columbus to a ward-based council system fell woefully short, with some pages not containing a single valid signature, hundreds of signatures not matching those on voter registration cards, and many signatures appearing to be in the same hand writing.

Local elections officials say an effort to overhaul Columbus City Council was doomed by basic errors.

The Franklin County Board of Elections says out of the 26,870 petition signatures handed in by the Columbus Coalition for Responsive Government, only 8,471, or 31.5 percent, were ruled valid.

About 650 signatures were ruled “not genuine” after elections officials said signatures did not match those on voter registration forms, or because it appeared signatures for multiple voters were submitted in one handwriting style.

The Columbus Coalition has been trying to get the city to switch from a seven-member, at-large council system to a system with four at-large members and seven city council wards.

“We were surprised at the number of invalid signatures submitted,” Franklin County Board of Elections Director Bill Anthony wrote in a statement. “Some petitions had no valid signatures out of 25 possible on a single document.”

“They should have known that only voters registered in Columbus precincts were eligible to sign a Columbus charter petition and explained that to anyone signing,” wrote Deputy Board of Elections Director Dana Walch.

“But they accepted signatures from voters who listed addresses outside the city, including at least one from Cleveland.”

A post on the Columbus Coalition for Responsive Government’s Facebook page read “We question that the Board used the wrong standard for assessing the number of signatures needed, and that the Board irregularly broke up the petitions into two stacks based on a flawed interpretation of the law.

“We continue to insist that City Council should put this issue on the ballot, as it does typically for Charter Amendments without requiring any signatures,” the statement read.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2012/07/10/signatures-questioned-on-city-council-reform-effort/feed/0Group Wants Ohio Voters To Make State Law Supremehttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2010/05/13/group-wants-ohio-voters-to-make-state-law-supreme/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2010/05/13/group-wants-ohio-voters-to-make-state-law-supreme/#commentsThu, 13 May 2010 00:00:00 +0000Bill Cohenhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2010/05/13/group-wants-ohio-voters-to-make-state-law-supreme/

If a conservative citizens groups gets it way, Ohio voters will face a ballot issue that proclaims the state constitution and state law are sovereign over federal laws. Ohio's attorney general and elections officials have given the group the green light to try to collect 402,000 petition signatures to put the measure onto the ballot this November or next year. Statehouse correspondent Bill Cohen reports.

If a conservative citizens groups gets it way, Ohio voters will face a ballot issue that proclaims the state constitution and state law are sovereign over federal laws. Ohio’s attorney general and elections officials have given the group the green light to try to collect 402,000 petition signatures to put the measure onto the ballot this November or next year. Statehouse correspondent Bill Cohen reports.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2010/05/13/group-wants-ohio-voters-to-make-state-law-supreme/feed/0constitution,petitionIf a conservative citizens groups gets it way, Ohio voters will face a ballot issue that proclaims the state constitution and state law are sovereign over federal laws. Ohio's attorney general and elections officials have given the group the green ligh...If a conservative citizens groups gets it way, Ohio voters will face a ballot issue that proclaims the state constitution and state law are sovereign over federal laws. Ohio's attorney general and elections officials have given the group the green light to try to collect 402,000 petition signatures to put the measure onto the ballot this November or next year. Statehouse correspondent Bill Cohen reports.WOSU Newsno3:57